Contents

History

Background

Since the prophecy found on Ulaan[2] mentioned the Overmind,[3]Zeratul traveled to Aiur to visit the creature's death site in order to gain access to its memories. To do so, Zeratul had to make contact with four of the Overmind's tendrils.[1]

The Mission

Zeratul fought his way to each tendril, but was confused by the feelings of death, fear, and joy he experienced at the tendrils. Still seeking answers, the prelate moved to the Overmind's cortex and met Tassadar's apparent spirit. Tassadar explained the Overmind's motivations during the Great War and revealed its apocalyptic vision of the future where the Dark Voice and the hybrids were victorious.[1]

Aftermath

Walkthrough

Rapidly build up probes, then quickly take the expansion located at the Overmind's first tendril. This should ensure that resources never run scarce. Building several warpgates can greatly speed up the mission, and resources are generous, at least for a short while. It is possible to access all four of the Overmind's tendrils by going either clockwise or counter clockwise around the map.

There are two protoss obelisks to power with pylons (research options), one of which is next to the tendril closest to the starting location, and one farther to the north, closer to the second tendril. There is a (unpowered) robotics facility in the south-eastern corner of the map, another near the second obelisk and a warp gate, and a (unpowered) robotics bay near the latter. The zerg periodically attack the starting base via nydus worms. Initially, they only attack from the north and east, but eventually they start attacking from the west, as well. Surround the base with photon cannons to buy it more time for additional forces to return. With the power of several warp gates and the abundant resources which, if the game runs late, can come from the infested terran base to the East and/or a zerg base in the Northeast, the protoss should have no problem maintaining a large army. A force of colossi and stalkers should be able to cover both the massed ground threats as well as the air threats.

Remember Zeratul has powerful abilities that can turn the tide of battle, utilize void prison to stop priority targets like ultralisks. Since Zeratul only has to touch the beacons, it's possible to blink into the last beacon without dealing with the defenders and end the mission if supporting forces are insufficient.

Notes

The edges of the map contain large zerg bases, which cannot be reached by most ground units. The player may utilize observers combined with stalkers using blink to reach the bases, which will cause the AI to fight back much more intensely and intelligently than the other bases on the map, which includes spawning large numbers of ultralisks. If the player destroys any zerg buildings in these bases, the AI will attempt to rebuild.

There is one base, in the north-eastern corner, which can be seen by observers but cannot be reached even by stalkers. It does not contain any zerg structures or units, only a few creep tumors and several zerg doodads which cannot be found anywhere else on the map. The purpose of this "invincible" base is to provide a safe zerg-controlled area in which several scenes from the final cutscene take place.

On the map, Zeratul can reactivate protoss warp gates, which will spawn stalkers that were trapped in the gate's energy matrix during the evacuation of Aiur. However, both protoss warp gates and stalkers were invented after Aiur's fall.